


A Chance to Go Back

by edensreadingcorner



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Ash lives, Garden of Light, Healing, M/M, Starts in Garden of Light, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26986699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edensreadingcorner/pseuds/edensreadingcorner
Summary: "If you had a chance to go back in time, is there anything you would change?"Eiji didn't even have to hesitate to make a decision. If he could go back in time, he would make sure that Ash had a chance to live a normal life. A life without guns.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 41
Kudos: 110





	1. Back in Time?

The last day of the gallery had officially come to a close, and though it was empty now, Eiji continued roaming around until he stood in front of the picture he was looking for. The picture that meant the most to him. The picture he had titled "Dawn."

It had taken him a lot of courage to dig back through his old photos of Ash. A lot of tears too. All of those memories were tainted with Ash gone, even the happy ones. He couldn't bear to think of them without being once again reminded that he could never see Ash again. Not only that, but Ash had never been allowed to heal. He had been through so much since he was just seven years old and he was forced to grow up fast. He never got the chance to slow down and act his age. It pained Eiji that Ash never got to live a normal life. Still, he was glad he put up the photo. It had been seven years, and Ash deserved to be honored. All their old friends had stopped by and given Eiji bittersweet smiles once they saw the giant photo of Ash.

He continued gazing at the picture when suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. _That's odd..._ he thought. No one should be here at this time. He began to turn around when a voice commanded him to stop. The voice was practically unidentifiable, not by gender, race, age, or anything. It also had an odd quality to it that made Eiji want to follow its every command. Eiji didn't like that.

"That's a nice picture." The voice was even closer now and Eiji bristled but hummed in agreement. "If you had a chance to go back in time, is there anything you would change?"

Eiji didn't even have to hesitate to make a decision. If he could go back in time, he would make sure that Ash had a chance to live a normal life. A life without guns.

"I'd save his life," he said. Eiji recalled how just before the gallery opened, he had told Sing about how he wished he could have given the letter to Ash himself, instead of having Sing give it to him. 

_"I just kept asking myself why I didn't go see him myself, instead of asking you to take that letter— I kept telling myself I should have gone—even if I had to crawl on my hands and knees... It was killing me..."_

For a while neither Eiji nor the strange being said anything. Eiji began to wonder if the being was still there and turned around again before being harshly reprimanded and ordered not to look away from the picture. Shivers rolled down Eiji's spine. He really didn't like being told what to do. Suddenly he heard what sounded like a loud snap, and everything went dark.

**\--------**

The rising sun warmed the skin of Eiji's face as he slowly opened his eyes. He stared out the window at the blue sky for a few minutes as he began to remember the odd stranger from the night before and their conversation. He didn't remember getting home and began to wonder how he had made it here, before looking around and realizing that he was not at home. He was in what looked like a hospital room, but not just any hospital room, the same hospital room he had stayed in during the last few weeks of his original trip to America. 

There was a throbbing pain in his side and when he attempted to sit up, it turned into a sharp pain. At the sound of him shouting in pain, the door flew open and people swarmed into the room, led by Shunichi and Charlie. 

"Eiji, are you okay?" Shunichi asked, worry evident in his eyes.

"Yeah, I just tried to sit up."

"You shouldn't be trying to do that yet at this stage," the doctor who had come in scolded Eiji. 

Eiji tried to understand why he was feeling pain like this. It was just like when he had gotten shot the second to last time he had been with Ash. But that was impossible, right? There was no way the stranger from the night before had actually managed to send him back in time. It's not like magic exists. On the other hand, Eiji had observed an odd quality that seemed to surround the being. Even without seeing the stranger, Eiji could feel it. Had the person really sent him back in time? Was that why the person had asked him about whether or not there was anything he would change if given the opportunity.

Eiji had to double-check just to be sure.

After the doctor had fixed his stitches and wiped off the blood that had pooled out of Eiji's body the minute he tried to sit up, Eiji turned to Shunichi.

"Ibe-san?" The man in question turned to Eiji. This was a long shot, but what if he really had made it back in time. "When are we flying back to Japan?" 

"Next week," the older man said. "Your parents are very worried and they miss you so much. I'm sure your sister misses you just as much."

Eiji nodded, before deciding on the last piece of evidence he would need to convince himself he really had gone back in time. 

He asked for help to walk over to the bathroom, and once he was in there, he looked up at the mirror. Well, not right away. This was strange and Eiji was anxious. He didn't know how he should feel if this was actually real. Of course, he should be happy, he was given the chance to save Ash now that he knows exactly what happens. But what if he messed up? What if he tried to save Ash and Ash still died?

His eyes widened at what he saw in the mirror. In the mirror, his nineteen-year-old self stared back at him in shock. Eiji reached up a hand to touch his face and his reflection did too. This was real. Eiji really had gone back in time. He was now a week away from Ash's death.


	2. Nineteen Again

Eiji sat back down in the bed and began to think. According to Ibe-san, they were a week away from when Eiji was supposed to go back to Japan which meant that they were a week away from when Ash was supposed to die. But at least that meant he wasn't dead yet and he would perhaps be able to change what happened. 

Now, Eiji was also aware of the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect was a theory about how some tiny changes could greatly affect the future. It stemmed from the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings could create a wind that many weeks later become a tornado. It gets talked about in some media about time travel, so Eiji knew he would have to be careful. He didn't want to make a single wrong move that could prevent him from saving Ash's life. What if he accidentally caused Ash's life to end early or if he put himself in a situation where he still wasn't able to save Ash. As far as he knew, he would not get a do-over and this was his one chance. He would have to do his best to keep everything the same until it came to saving Ash, and he had a plan.

Eiji knew that this time, he would have to deliver the letter to Ash himself. He had spent seven years wishing he had gone himself, and now he had a chance to. How to get there though was going to be an issue. On one hand, when Sing comes that day, he can ask Sing to take him to the library. But what if he shows up too late and they both end up missing the flight. Then his efforts to bring Ash to Japan fly right out the window. 

Eiji could try to get to Sing beforehand and warn him about Lao, but then Sing would wonder what made him think that Lao would do that and he couldn't just tell Sing that he had gone back in time. At least he still had a few more days to think about what to do. For now, though he would have to go through the motions and try to keep everything the same. 

The week passed by very slowly as he continued to recover from the gunshot wound in his stomach. As the days passed he couldn't help but grow more and more anxious in anticipation of saving Ash and giving him the letter. Luckily it had already been written by the time he had woken up as his 19-year-old self because he wasn't sure if he would have been able to remember the exact words he had written the first time around.

With just three days left now, Eiji had decided to try and get ahold of Sing a day before he was originally supposed to see him, to try and prevent Lao from attempting to kill Ash. He had asked Ibe-san to try and talk to one of Ash's gang members so they could pass a message along to Sing and Ibe-san said he would.

\-------

It was the night before Eiji's flight. Sing had never shown up. Eiji had a feeling that Ibe-san had decided not to pass along his message to Ash's gang members and that he had chosen not to find Sing because he feared it would keep Eiji in New York and that Eiji would miss yet another flight to Japan. Now, Eiji would have to hope that he would be able to get to the library on time without missing the flight and making Ibe-san worried again. Of course, Ibe-san was bound to be worried when he would inevitably notice that Eiji was not in his room for some reason, but as long as Eiji and Ash were able to make it to the flight on time, everything would work out in the end.

He had trouble sleeping that night, once again overcome with nerves. He was absolutely terrified that he would not be able to prevent Ash's death. This was a second chance. He was not going to get another shot to save Ash after this. What if he messed up?

He closed his eyes. All he could do at this point was hope that at this time tomorrow, he would be on the plane back to Japan with Ash at his side. He lay there, clutching onto the dream of being able to save Ash and take him to Japan until he fell asleep.


	3. Let’s Go to Japan, Together

By the time the sun rises over New York City, Eiji had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep. It had taken him hours to fall asleep and his body had woken him up early as it usually did.

This was it. Today was the big day, his one shot to save Ash’s life. He wondered what would happen if he messed up. Would he be sent back to where he had been before waking up at 19? Would he stay here and be forced to go through the grieving and mourning all over again as he lost Ash for a second time?

He did his best to clear his mind of negative thoughts, they would not help at all. Besides, in a few hours, he would get to see Ash again! Ash whom he loves unconditionally. Ash whom he hadn’t seen in seven years. He almost couldn’t believe that it was actually going to happen. That he would actually get to see Ash after all this time.

“Eiji, it’s time for breakfast,” called out Ibe-san through the door to Eiji’s room, knocking in the door. “Are you up?”

“Yeah, I’m up.”

Ibe-san entered the room and handed him a bag from Starbucks along with a coffee. A voice called out to Ibe-san, though Eiji was too tired to distinguish who it was. Due to his nerves, Eiji found it hard to stomach the food.

A little while later, Ibe-san came back to help Eiji into his wheelchair, tucking a blanket around Eiji’s legs, and they worked on packing up all of Eiji’s stuff. They were going to have to check out soon and head over to the airport. By the time Sing showed up, it was 11:30. Eiji had been sitting next to his bed since Ibe-san had left his room, waiting, when the door finally slid open, and Sing’s smiling face peeked out. Eiji was struck by how young Sing was. They had all been young at the time when they went through everything, but Sing had been the youngest, excluding Skipper.

“Hey!”

“Sing!”

“Hey, you leave today, right?” Sing asked, as he walked over to Eiji.

“Sing, is Ash okay? Is he safe?”

“He hasn’t come here? Why? I really don’t get him...”

“Can I ask you a favor? Could you help me give this to Ash? I wish I could go by myself, but look at me. I’ll need your help to get there and to do it without Ibe-san catching us. I couldn’t ask anyone else.”

“But I don’t know where Ash is right now.” Eiji’s heart twinged, he knew exactly where Ash was. He was at the one place Eiji hadn’t been able to set foot near these last seven years.

“The library...” Eiji forced out. “He’s at the library. I know he is.”

“Okay, I’ll help.”

They spent the next few minutes coming up with a plan to sneak Eiji out of the hotel. Ibe-san was downstairs in the lobby, probably talking to Max, so they would have to go out of one of the side doors that didn’t pass through the lobby. The only issue was that there were only two ways to get down to the first floor. The stairs or the elevators. Obviously, Eiji couldn’t take the stairs, but the elevators went directly into the lobby so it would be a gamble. Sing wheeled Eiji out of his room and Eiji’s grip tightened on the letter.

As luck would have it, when the elevators had gone down to the lobby, the doors slid open to reveal Ibe-san who happened to be waiting for the elevators. They both froze as Ibe-san stared at them, before Eiji’s stomach rumbled. It was around lunchtime too so it helped Eiji come up with a convincing enough excuse that they were just going to go eat something and come back. Ibe-san’s eyes narrowed and Eiji could tell he didn’t believe them completely, but he let them go after a sigh. He made sure to remind Eiji that he and Sing would have to be back in about an hour so they could check out and head to the library. Eiji knew he and Sing were not going to make it here on time but he nodded anyways.

The sudden cold surprised Eiji as he and Sing made their way outside. After spending so long cooped up inside, not to mention that a week ago it had been summertime for him, the cold had surprised him. Sing stopped in front of a sleek, black car. Eiji looked up at Sing confused, before the driver exited the car. There was no mistaking his uniform, he was one of Yut-Lung’s men. Before Eiji could say anything, Sing told him to relax and helped him into the car before folding the wheelchair and putting it in the trunk. 

On the way to the library, Sing told Eiji about how he had talked to Yut-Lung and that they had decided to work together to make Chinatown safer for its residents. That made sense to Eiji, knowing that one day they would operate a few businesses together.

When the car pulled to a stop, Sing took Eiji’s wheelchair out of the trunk and helped Eiji into it. Eiji willed himself to look at the library but he found himself frozen. Seven years of breakdowns every time the library was in his line of sight and there he was in front of it. Sing wheeled him up to the steps before leaving him to go get Ash.

A few minutes later, the doors opened and Eiji saw a familiar shock of blond hair. A small part of his brain tells him it’s not Ash, the way it has over the last seven years each time he had run up to someone hoping against all hope that somehow it would be Ash. For the first time, it really was Ash though. Their eyes met, and Eiji’s eyes filled with unshed tears. He held them back though as he wouldn’t be able to explain his grief to Ash and Sing.

Soon, Ash stood in front of him.

“I wanted to give this to you before I left.“ Eiji handed the letter over to Ash. There’s not much to say. Everything Eiji wanted to tell him was in that letter. Sing and Eiji had to get lunch so they parted ways, Ash going to read the letter on his own. Sing and Eiji grabbed some food To-Go though they stayed right near the library.

Sing finished his food first. “I have a bad feeling so I’m going to go and scout the library to make sure everything is alright.” Eiji just nods. Maybe Sing will find Lao and subsequently prevent Lao from sticking his knife into Ash.

Eiji stayed near the library, but as the minutes passed, he began to worry even more. Shouldn’t Ash have finished the letter by now? What if it was already too late? What if Ash had already been stabbed? He hurriedly began to wheel himself around the library to find Ash. He got to the corner of the library and right as he turned the corner, he collided with someone running at full speed. While the wheelchair protected Eiji, the collision sent the other person sprawling in a flash of black and beige.

“Oh, my god. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.” Eiji felt so bad. The person pushed themself up and as they looked at Eiji, Eiji’s eyes met a familiar pair of jade eyes. A few seconds later, they both began laughing. Ash brought himself up enough to place his head in Eiji’s lap as his hand grabbed Eiji’s, his other hand gripping the letter and the plane ticket. “Come with me. Let’s go to Japan, together. There’s so much I want to show you. I want to show you where I grew up. I want to show you a world without guns,” Eiji pleaded. “I want-”

“Okay, I got it. I’ll come,” Ash interjected, stopping Eiji before he could continue. Eiji looked down at him, shocked. He had thought it would take more to convince Ash. Perhaps all the feelings that Eiji had poured into the letter had gotten through to Ash. “I love you,” Ash said as he looked up at Eiji, a smile playing on his lips and a soft look in his eyes.

“I love you too.” Eiji’s cheeks reddened.

“There you guys are!” Sing said as he walked up to them.

“Where have you been?” Ash asked. 

“Um... I just happened to see someone I knew.” Sing brushed off the question. Eiji figured that he had probably come across Lao. “Yo, Eiji. We should probably leave now, the traffic’s gonna be pretty bad to get to the airport.”

Together, the three got into the borrowed car from Yut-Lung and headed towards JFK.


	4. JFK and 38 000 Feet in the Air

Ash, Sing, and Eiji managed to show up at the airport at nearly 4 p.m. Two hours before the flight, which just happens to be the recommended amount of time to show up before an international flight. As they walked into the airport trying to figure out which terminal to head over to, pink hair and shark teeth caught Eiji's eyes.

"Bones!" Bones looked up and saw the three of them and soon enough Bones, Alex, and Kong had come up to them. The three were quite happy to see that Ash had finally gone to Eiji, knowing that he had been trying to avoid him. 

"Ibe-san is very upset with you, Eiji," Alex said, while Bones and Kong nodded behind him, fearfully. 

"He's MAD mad," said Kong.

"You guys better get over there quickly," Alex told them. Bones, Kong, and Alex pointed out the way for the three and the three began rushing over while pushing Eiji's wheelchair, to get over there as fast as they could. 

They got to the right baggage check just in time to see Ibe-san saying goodbye to Jenkins, Charlie, Jessica, Max, and George. They had stopped running after a security guard had told them off, so they began to power walked as fast as they could while still pushing Eiji's wheelchair. As they got closer, Max was the first one to notice them, his face lighting up when he saw Ash before his eyes slid over to Eiji and he gave him a look that Eiji could tell meant something along the lines of "yikes." 

They got to the group and Ibe-san immediately started going off on Eiji, furious at Eiji's disappearance. He was more understanding once he had seen Ash, but he was still angry.

"I thought you had been kidnapped while you and Sing had left for lunch! You knew we had a strict schedule!" Technically, Eiji had been kidnapped by Sing, but Eiji was not about to tell Ibe-san. "I was so worried you would run off and you did exactly that. Of course, I'm happy to see Ash, but never run off like that again." Eiji pouted, he was 19 and definitely old enough to do what he wanted.

The others wanted to say a few things to Ash and Eiji though before they left, so Ibe-san gave them 10 more minutes before they had to get through the baggage checkpoint and then to TSA. Since it was New York, the TSA line was going to be _long_. Soon, the conversations wrapped up and they said goodbye. 

"You guys better come back some time," Max said.

"Yeah. Eiji, you are welcome over any time!" Added Jessica.

"You too, Ash," Max said, hiding a small laugh. It was nice to see the two on good terms again. Eiji still remembered how their first encounter with Jessica was when she had shot at Max for trying to see his son. Now the three of them could live together again, happily. Eiji didn't know yet though if they were going to stay in New York or go back to Los Angeles. 

After the goodbyes, Ash began pushing Eiji's wheelchair through the lines for the baggage checkpoint as they followed Ibe-san. While they had been saying their goodbyes, Sing had disappeared.

After the baggage checkpoint, as they walked, and wheeled, their way over to the TSA line, Eiji looked up to see Alex, Bones, Kong, and Sing on top of the bridge thing that they were about to go under.

"EIJIIII! ASHHHHH!" called out Sing, waving. "See ya! You guys better be back!"

"We'll be waiting!" the other three chimed in as they waved too. 

"We will, we will come back!" Eiji shouted back, waving back at them too. 

\-----------------------------

It ended up taking about an hour for them to get through TSA and now Ibe-san, Ash, and Eiji sat together at their gate, Gate 6, near one of the TVs that had nothing but their flight number, AL 277 on it. They had grabbed some fast food to eat as their dinner while they waited, mainly cause airplane food is disgusting and no one wants that. 

It was the first time in a while that Eiji and Ash were able to talk freely with each other. It had been technically two weeks since the last time they had talked, seven years for Eiji. The last time they had talked, Eiji had been teaching Ash Japanese in the off chance that Ash would survive and they could go and live in Japan together. And then he had died. Now Eiji was telling Ash all of the things that were waiting for them in Japan since Eiji had succeeded and managed to save Ash. 

It's hard for Eiji to explain how much it meant seeing Ash smiling widely as they talked. Even back then, there had been a point where he had thought he might never see it again, especially after everything that they had been through. 

At precisely 6:10, the first call for boarding rang out, this one for the first-class members. It was a while before it finally called for them as they were in Premium Economy. They filed into the tunnel that led to the plane. They got to the corner right next to the plane doors and Ash helped Eiji out of his wheelchair. Ibe-san had told the flight company when he had booked the tickets that Eiji was in a wheelchair so one would be provided to them once they landed at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. 

Eiji leaned on Ash, his arm wrapped around Ash's shoulders with Ash's arm around his waist as they got to the 18th row, where their seats were. The seating in that area was 3-3-3, their tickets being 18G, 18H, and 18J. Eiji was lucky and he had 18J which meant that he got to sit in the window seat, but Ibe-san switched places with Ash so that Ash could be next to Eiji. 

It wasn't long before the lights turned off and the flight attendants gave the usual speech they give at the start of flights, both in Japanese, then in English. 

As the flight took off, Eiji looked out of the plane and onto the view of New York City. _Sa-yo-na-ra, America. Sa-yo-na-ra, New York._ He remembered thinking the same thing, seven years ago, but this time there was a difference. _I am so grateful I didn't have to say sa-yo-na-ra to you, Ash, and that I don't have to fear never seeing you again._ He smiled staring out of the window.

"Eiji." Eiji looked up at Ash who was indicating that a stewardess had come by. The three each got their own drink. They spent most of the nearly 13-hour flight talking or watching movies. At one point though, Ash had leaned over and fallen asleep with his head on Eiji's shoulders. Ibe-san soon found that Eiji had fallen asleep too with his head on top of Ash's. He would have taken a photo for their memories, but his camera was all the way down in the cargo part of the airplane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I just wanted to thank everyone who comments on these chapters! I really appreciate you guys so much, it means a lot <3


End file.
